before the end of 2008. As the rehousing gathered pace throughout 2007 and 2008, empty properties on the estate were regularly targeted by vandals and arsonists, as were a number of vehicles parked in the area. However, six families remained on the estate by January 2009 and the last tenant did not leave until May 2009, a month after demolition work started. The final buildings were demolished in October 2009 and work on the estate began 12 months later, being completed by 2014. The redeveloped estate, which includes a mix of private and public sector housing, has a completely redesigned road layout and new street names. Fears were rife in the local community that other parts of the Priory Estate would be demolished once the North Priory redevelopment was completed, but the local council has instead opted to improve the older properties on the estate. Crime The Priory Estate has traditionally had a very high crime rate. In October 2003, arsonists set fire to a pigeon loft in the garden of a house in Linwood Road and killed nine pigeons. On another part of the estate, anti-social behaviour was creating so much trouble that one family gave an interview to the Express and Star regional newspaper openly criticising the local council for failing to respond to their demands for a transfer. In March 2004, Dudley Register Office (located in Priory Park) was set alight by arsonists. It took 100 firefighters a whole night to defeat the blaze. Also in March 2004, a 90-year-old widow on the Estate criticised a judge for failing to hand out a prison sentence to the heroin addict and career criminal who broke into her house and stole £80 from her purse. In April 2006, an arson attack caused severe damage to the Duncan Edwards public house in Priory Road. The pub had been refurbished just five years earlier and renamed in honour of Duncan Edwards, but had been closed a short time earlier in spite of its popularity in the local community. The building has since been demolished and plans have already been unveiled for the site to be developed for housing and retail, but construction work has yet to start. The rehousing of North Priory residents in preparation for demolition resulted in empty properties being scoured by scrap metal dealers in the hope of finding items of value, despite council workers having already stripped